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Thursday, January 9, 2014

No tall people in our family

I visited my daughter Beth and the other two grandchildren
not long ago. My daughter’s house is a revolving gallery of children’s art. It’s
always on the walls.

Caroline, the mistress of cats, had another portrait on
display. By the arthritic knees I’d guess this to be Kipper, the cat as old as
Caroline, nine, going on ten. I understand cat years are exponential.

Francis current piece was on another wall. This is the young
man who bolted the Paint like Picasso
class at Cousin Camp two summers ago. Georgia O'Keeffe and he was gone. He said
he wasn't interested; I figured being the only boy among girls was a
contributing factor.

Francis' O'Keeffe, 2012

On display by Francis, an obvious self portrait. Eyes didn't
interest him that day, he said. Before I left I made an estimate of his height,
and he’s in the 5’6” range. At twelve years. And I was reminded of an incident
when he was not a year old.

Francis was crawling, making his way somewhere. Passing my foot
he helped himself to handfuls of blue jeans and pulled himself up. His face was above my knee, and I said “Oh,
my, you will be a tall one.”

His father looked over. Now, Bill is a respectable 5’10”, as
was his father. “How tall?” asked Bill. “Over six feet,” I replied.

“There are no tall people in our family,” my son-in-law
responded.

Some of us in the room had a good laugh before we reminded
Bill he was responsible for only half the boy’s genes, and he’d never meet most
of Beth’s forebears. Both her
grandfathers were over six feet. Both my brothers were taller than our dad. And
in case Bill needed more convincing, my father had one six foot tall
grandmother, not bad for a nineteenth century woman.

No tall people in Bill’s family, but more than a few in his
son’s. I attribute France’s black hair to my dad, too, although his Welsh
father and grandfather probably contributed.

I love the cat picture - adore it, in fact :) All these paintings show thought and creativity.

A six foot woman would be a rarity a couple of generations ago, I think. Generally speaking I believe the trend is for each generation to be taller than the preceding. Imagine if this had been the case with this lady!

No tall people in my family except my brother who is 5' 11", but he had a different father, obviously a tall man. My first husband's family is mostly tall, he was one of the shortest at 5' 6", so my children all ended up taller than me, and most of the grandchildren are now taller than me, only the youngest is shorter, but she is only 9 yet. The paintings are wonderful, love the blue cat.

I was a short person until I was 15. I grew eight inches that year and two the following year. So, I have looked at life from both sides now. I am the youngest sibling, the only girl, and the tallest.Love those drawings. And empathise on the arthritic knees front.Off topic. I have just finished The Fishing Fleet (Husband-hunting in the Raj) by Anne De Courcy. I think you would enjoy it.